I have paid three different companies for the same internet plan. Gigabit down, 30 up, cable, Ontario. TekSavvy in Ottawa and again when we first landed in Fergus, then Cogeco, then oxio when Cogeco’s bill did what Cogeco bills do. If you’re searching “oxio vs TekSavvy” you’re probably hoping one of them is secretly better. I have the receipts from all three, and the answer is less dramatic than you want.
Two of them tie. One of them comes last by a lot. The interesting part is why.
The Ottawa years: TekSavvy
When we lived in Ottawa, the house was on TekSavvy cable. Same speed tier I have now. I don’t have a single story about it, which for an internet provider is the review. It came on, it stayed on, the bill was the bill. When we left, I left because the moving truck was leaving, not because of anything TekSavvy did.
We signed up with them again in Fergus, and it was the same non-story. Then a Cogeco rep knocked on the door with a deal: same speed, a lower bill than TekSavvy, locked for two years. It seemed good at the time. That sentence is doing a lot of work, and it’s the part of this post I can’t defend. I left a flat, fair bill for a promo, which is exactly the move I’m about to spend four paragraphs telling you not to make. It cost me about two years of paying too much.
The Fergus years: Cogeco
I’ve written the full Cogeco price story in my oxio internet review, so here’s the compressed version. The gigabit plan started at a $60 promo. It went to $70 while the promo was still running, which I didn’t know was a thing carriers could do. When the promo ended, the same plan on the same wire landed around $110 a month.
Nothing about the connection changed across any of those price points. Same coax into the house, same node down the street, same speed test. The only thing that moved was the number on the bill, and it only ever moved in one direction.
The service itself was fine, for what it’s worth. Cogeco doesn’t come last because the internet was bad. It comes last because the relationship is adversarial by design. The price you sign up at is a lure, the real price is a surprise, and the only way to get back to a fair number is to call once a year and pretend you’re leaving. I have a kid and an agency. I don’t have a retention-call hobby.
The switch: oxio
When I finally got tired enough to look around, oxio was the one that came up. Flat $55 for the same gigabit tier, modem included, no contract. I didn’t do a spreadsheet. The pitch was “the price is the price,” and after two years of the alternative that was the whole sales call.
Two months in: nothing has gone wrong. The speed is what I bought and then some. The upload came in at 82 Mbps on a plan that promises 30, which I still don’t have a clean explanation for and have decided not to ask about. The full review has the speed test and the modem-in-bridge-mode details if you want them.
The one part of the switch that was annoying wasn’t oxio’s fault. It was cancelling Cogeco. Signing up for oxio took a few minutes on a web form. Getting out of Cogeco meant the phone, the retention pitch, and a modem that had to find its way back to them. It’s a little funny that the hardest part of leaving the incumbent is the incumbent, but it’s also the entire business model, so maybe not that funny.
Why the two indie ISPs tie
This is what the “oxio vs TekSavvy” searches are really asking, and most comparison posts skip it because it makes the comparison boring.
TekSavvy and oxio are the same wire. Both are TPIA providers, which means they lease the incumbent’s last mile under CRTC rules and put their own billing, support and modem on top. In Ottawa my TekSavvy connection was physically Rogers. In Fergus my oxio connection is physically Cogeco. The speed tier, the latency, the node, the coax in the wall: those belong to the incumbent no matter whose logo is on the bill.
So when someone asks which indie ISP is faster, the question doesn’t quite parse. They’re both exactly as fast as the line they’re renting. What you’re choosing between is pricing model, support, and how the modem shows up. On those, my experience of the two is close enough that I can’t put one above the other. TekSavvy was great in Ottawa. oxio has been great in Fergus. If TekSavvy had served my address and I’d known it, I’d be writing this post about them and it would say the same thing.
One footnote on “indie”: Cogeco bought oxio’s internet business in 2023 and runs it as a separate brand. I’m keeping the word, because what I’m ranking is the pricing model, and oxio’s is still flat, contract-free and nothing like its parent’s. But you should know who cashes the cheque.
The practical advice: don’t switch between indie resellers for sport. If you’re on one and it’s fine, stay. If you’re on the incumbent, pick whichever reseller serves your address and go. There is no step three.
The ranking
- oxio and TekSavvy, tied. Same wire as the incumbent, fair price that stays put, no contract, no annual phone call. The only reason to pick one over the other is which one serves your address, and possibly a referral deal.
- Cogeco, last. Perfectly good internet attached to a pricing model that assumes you won’t notice. You will notice. It just takes about two years.
If you’re in Ontario on a cable incumbent and you’re about to do the “I’d like to cancel” call again this fall, that’s your signal. Check which resellers serve your address. If oxio is one of them, my referral code gets you the first month free, which means the first bill from the new provider is zero and you can run both for a few weeks before you commit.
I paid three companies for one plan. Two of them were selling internet. One of them was selling the promo.